Research reflects rise in skipped sailings

Shippers should prepare for longer transit times and more frequent use of skipped sailings or "blank voyages" by container carriers, according to recent research. BlueWater Reporting tracks skipped sailings globally on a week-to-week basis of all inter-regional services, and skipped vessel capacity has been running ahead of levels from a year ago. Hayes Howard, chief executive officer of BlueWater Reporting said, "Carriers are pulling sailings more frequently as one of several tools deployed to manage capacity. From a carrier perspective, pulling unneeded capacity enables them to do a better job of matching supply with demand and the new alliance agreements mean that capacity can be pulled without much impact on service...